FutureFlight
NASA Steps Up Urban Air Mobility Automation Trials in Vertiport Lab
The U.S. agency believes that automation is the key to making the new mode of air transportation efficient and profitable.
NASA has been evaluating how urban air mobility operations could achieve a high degree of automation.
NASA has been evaluating how urban air mobility operations could achieve a high degree of automation. (Image: NASA)

NASA is stepping up preparations for an advanced air mobility (AAM) future. The U.S. agency’s researchers recently completed simulations involving a vertiport hosting large volumes of eVTOL aircraft operations as part of its high-density vertiplex (HDV) subproject.

The HDV team is responsible for the development and maturation of automation technologies and architectures to support AAM infrastructure and operations, focusing on the creation and testing of concepts, requirements, software architectures, and technologies needed for the terminal environment around vertiports, with an emphasis on urban air mobility (UAM) operations. Researchers developed a prototype UAM ecosystem that includes automated systems for aircraft operations, airspace management, ground control, and fleet management.